This invention relates to an accessory especially adapted for use by handicapped persons in effecting buttoning of one part of a garment to another.
There are many persons who for one reason or another are unable to use two hands in passing a button through a buttonhole in such manner as to secure together the overlapping edges of two parts of a garment. The problems associated with one-handed buttoning have been recognized before, but the solutions proposed have been less than satisfactory.
One-handed buttoning difficulties are especially prevalent when it is desired to button the overlapping ends of a waistband of a pair of jeans or the like which are formed from soft, pliable textile material. This is because the material to which the waistband is sewn or otherwise attached is unable to support the ends of the waistband in a position in which one end of the waistband overlies the companion end and supports the button in a position to pass through a buttonhole. The person attempting to button together the overlying ends of the waistband thus is confronted with the problem of maintaining the adjacent ends of the waistband in overlapping condition while attempting to locate the button in a position in which it may pass through a buttonhole. If the person is unable to use both hands, the buttoning operation is extremely difficult to complete.
A primary object of the invention is to provide an accessory which minimizes or overcomes the difficulty referred to above.
A buttoning accessory constructed in accordance with the invention is especially adapted for use in facilitating the passing of a button adjacent one end of the waistband of a pair of trousers through a buttonhole formed in the opposite end of the waistband so as to enable one-hand fastening of the opposite ends of the waistband. The waistband of a pair of trousers conventionally has at one end a button of predetermined thickness and diameter and the opposite end of the waistband has a buttonhole of such size as to enable the button to pass more or less freely therethrough.
The accessory includes a flexible handle which is of such thickness as to pass freely through the buttonhole and terminates at one end in a flat retainer body which is of such width and thickness as also to pass freely through the buttonhole. The body has two pairs of limbs which extend substantially parallel to one another and form an elbow. The limbs of each pair are spaced by a slot. The slot between the limbs adjacent the handle preferably is wider than the slot between the other limbs, but each slot has a width greater than the thickness of the button so as to enable the button to pass freely into and out of each slot.
The slot remote from the handle preferably is narrower than the other slot so as to minimize the inadvertent escape of a button from the slot, and the surface of the free edge of the body is smoothly rounded from the inside edge of the elbow to the outside edge thereof. The edge of the body at the inside of the elbow is beveled for the purpose of facilitating rotation of the retainer in the passage of the button through the buttonhole.
The width of the retainer body not only is such as to enable it to pass through the buttonhole, but it also is at least as great as the diameter of the button so that movement of the retainer body through the buttonhole carries with it the button, thereby minimizing the possibility that the position of the button could be skewed and create resistance to its passing through the buttonhole.